Beginnings of American Democracy USHC 1.1

USHC-1.1  Summarize the distinct characteristics of each colonial region in the settlement and development of British North America, including religious, social, political, and economic differences.

The Set-up  You must understand there was not one motivating factor for coming to the colonies.  We will see these different motives for colonizing have an effect of the culture of the regions.

The Set-up  We will use examples for each region:  Massachusetts for New England  Pennsylvania for the Mid-Atlantic colonies  Virginia and South Carolina for the Southern colonies.

Religion  One of the most common misunderstandings about the motivation of settlers is that they all came for religious reasons.  Although the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay were founded for religious purposes, most other settlers came to the New World to get land to improve their economic and social standing.

Religion  The impact of religion in the English colonies depended upon which groups of Englishmen settled the region.  The first Pilgrims and Puritans migrated for religious freedom for themselves but not for religious freedom for other religious groups.  There was very little religious tolerance in New England.

Puritans  The Puritans were trying to create a “city on the hill,” a community that England could look to as a model of godliness.  They did not want their model community defiled by people with other religious beliefs, so they exiled dissenters such as Roger Williams to Rhode Island and persecuted Quakers.  Religion played a large role in the cultural development of New England.

Religion  There was more religious diversity and tolerance in the Mid-Atlantic colonies; however, it was also limited.  Pennsylvania was founded by Quaker William Penn. Quakers believed that everyone had an inner light and this belief fostered tolerance.

Religion  The Act of Toleration in Maryland is often cited as evidence of religious tolerance but is also evidence of the intolerance practiced by the Puritans in Maryland.  Lord Baltimore promoted the Act in order to protect the rights of the Catholics in the colony.

Religion  Southern colonies were founded for economic reasons and religion did not play as large a role in their cultural development until the Great Awakening.  The Church of England (Anglican) was the established church in the South, but religious toleration was the norm.

Religion  Religious intolerance in the colonial period was a prime factor in the establishment of the principle of separation of church and state after the American Revolution.

Society  Early migrants to New England and the mid- Atlantic colonies initially developed a somewhat egalitarian society based on religious equality  This fostered the development of democratic political institutions but as economic prosperity developed and immigration increased, so did class distinctions.  The Congregational (Puritan) church fostered the development of towns and educational institutions and shaped New England society.

Society  The English settlements in the South developed a hierarchical social structure early because of the plantation system and their dependence on indentured servants and later on slaves.  The slave system was transplanted to the Carolinas from Barbados.

Society  The development of towns and schools was impeded by these large land holdings.  Although Georgia was initially chartered as a penal colony that outlawed slavery in order to promote a more egalitarian society, it soon became a plantation colony that allowed slavery.

Politics  The political development of the colonies was impacted by the political traditions of the mother country.  The British emigrants brought not only their language and culture with them but also their experience with the Magna Carta and Parliament.  Colonial experiences and distance from the mother country fostered the development of democratic institutions starting with Virginia’s House of Burgesses and the New England town meeting.

Politics  Dependence on slavery and the development of the plantation economy impacted the South’s less democratic political system in which the coastal planters had more political power than ordinary farmers.  Civil war in England during the 1600s and the policy of salutary neglect helped to undermine the authority of the king in the colonies and strengthened the role of colonial assemblies.

Politics  Although most colonies were royal colonies by 1750, colonial assemblies used the power of the purse to control the impact of the royal governors.  British subjects in the colonies were loyal to the Crown but believed that only their colonial assemblies had the power to tax them based on the traditions of the Magna Carta and colonial experience.

Politics  The English Civil War, the Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Right all influenced the colonists’ perception of their rights as Englishmen.

Economics  The economic development of the English colonies in the New World depended on their geographic location and the natural resources and the human capital available to them.  Geographic conditions afforded the settlers in New England only a subsistence farming economy.  They turned to the forests for shipbuilding and to the sea as merchants and fishermen.

Economics  New Englanders were not as dependent on slavery as Southern colonists because of geographic conditions, such as rocky soil and a short growing season.  The settlers of the Mid-Atlantic colonies were able to exploit their geographic resources of fertile soil and moderate climate and employ their large families to develop an export trade in food stuffs and were not dependent on slave labor.

Economics  The Southern colonies used their wide expanses of fertile soil to grow cash crops, (tobacco, rice, and indigo), with slave labor and to export these crops on the ships of New England.  Cotton became an important part of the southern economy only after the invention of the cotton gin in 1793.

Economics  The three regions developed an interdependent network of coastal trade and trade with the British Caribbean as well as trade across the Atlantic with Africa and Europe.  This trade and consequent economic development was impacted by the mercantilist policies of the mother country.